We didn’t speak again after that. I stared ahead, letting a stranger mark me with permanent ink, wishing that I could see my siblings. I’d tell them that father was right all along. That we didn’t belong here. That they thought of us as nothing but cattle left out for the vampires to eat. But I was not cattle, and I would have to prove it.
A couple hours later,my tattoo was finished and we were back in Vander’s room. The furniture had been rearranged while we were out. A second bed replaced the couch, and a black curtain hung between his side of the room and mine, giving me some semblance of privacy. I ran my hand over the crisp white sheets and the soft ebony blanket. Everything being black, gray, or white was a little dreary if you asked me, but no one did. A new pair of boots waited on top of a black leather-bound trunk. Ihoped they would fit so Vander couldn’t make any more snide comments about the size of my feet.
I lifted the lid to find my new uniforms, one thick hooded coat, and a few pairs of short and long-sleeved off-white tunics that were probably meant for sleeping. Oh, one was a deep purple, some rebel went against the color code. Two black corsets that had breast shapes and looked to hit the waist. I’d never worn one before. The fabric was pliable and might work better than my simple band of fabric and makeshift shoulder straps.
I peeked around the curtain to find Vander asleep on top of his comforter. He wore a pair of above-the-knee trousers and a gray cut-off sleeved top. He looked like less of an asshole when he slept, sort of beautiful really. He’d told me that I needed to familiarize myself with the manual, so I plopped down on my bed and cracked open the heavy book. I ran my fingers over the smooth pages and brought it to my nose, taking in the scent. It smelled of old paper and ink. It brought me back to reading with my mother before bedtime.
I read about the founders in the grand hall, the brother and sister pair from nearly two hundred years past. They were both killed by vampires one hundred and twenty-three years ago during a brutal attack before the wall was finished the following year. It had taken nearly a hundred years to construct the wall that was over sixty feet high and nearly ten square miles. The wall wasn’t a perfect circle, more oblong shaped. The map showed LOA headquarters was on the southwest corner. It was clear they didn’t have the farmland to sustain the population here and relied heavily on the villages outside the wall for certain supplies like wheat and oats, but they paid well. I remembered the farmers in town talking about it. It was really the only contact between those in the city and those in Lothleton.
The most interesting information in the manual was about our enemies, the vampires. It spoke of their ability to shadow walk, which I couldn’t picture, and how their craving for blood could drive them to madness. I lost track of time going over the history of LOA, the rules and what would be expected of me. Kill vampires. That was what it all came down to. Kill vampires, protect your partner, and keep the land safe. Become a weapon.
It wasn’t until I heard him clear his throat that I finally looked up from the pages. The sun had moved halfway across the sky already. He crossed his arms, and a line formed between his brows. Grumpy should have slept longer. I gently closed the book and waited for him to speak. The awkward staring was strange, but I could handle awkward. I won staring contests with my brother and sister all the time, growing up. They always cracked a smile. I was a stone.
Apparently so was Vander.
“You’re reading?” he finally said. Cracked.
“No, I just like to look at all the pictures, sir,” I drawled. The only picture in there was the map.
He narrowed his eyes. “So you can read?”
“Yes, does that surprise you, sir?”
“It does, actually. My first apprentice was from outside the wall. He couldn’t read. He’d never even seen letters.” He dropped his arms. “Who taught you?”
It wasn’t common for people in my village to read, and I assumed it was that way for many simple folk like myself, so I couldn’t be too upset by his assumptions. Kace could but he was the son of a chieftain and was schooled to be able to deal with those in the city. “My grandmother taught my mother, and my mother taught her children, sir. My grandmother was from Nighthaven.”
His brows rose slightly. “Interesting. What village are you from?”
“Neverglade. It’s about five miles west of the entrance gate. Sir.”
“You don’t have to call me ‘sir’ after every statement you make.”
“I’ll play it by ear then.” I half smiled. I made a mental note to only call him “sir” when he was being a jerk or looking to boost his ego.
He started to pace over the stone floor with his hands behind his back. “Is your grandmother ducai?”
“No, but her parents were. Her father sent her away to live with a cousin when he learned she was... ordinary.”
He didn’t so much as flinch at that. It was probably standard practice around here. Discard the unworthy cattle. “Are you the only ducai in your family?” he asked.
“Unless my sister turns out to be, and apart from the great-grandparents I’ve never met. Lilius Wesdotter and Anders Erikson. I think they were, or are, scholars. You said ducai live longer, so I assume they are alive if they weren’t killed.”
He paused and turned his gaze on me. “They’re alive. I know Lilius. Not well, but she is a friend of my mother.”
“Small world,” I mumbled. That meant his mother was likely a scholar, and yet he was an assassin. It made me wonder if Commander Locke was his father or at least a relative. The way they spoke to each other was familial.
He went into quizzing me about the manual next. “Who is the king of the vampires?”
“King? As in singular?” I opened the book to search for the page. I’d folded the corners of a handful of pages to make sure I could find them again. “I thought it said two kings rule together? The twins, Mars and Quinton, and they share a queen, Belladonna.” Kace had told me rumors about a powerful vampire queen and how the warriors fought off vampires in faraway battlefields, but I’d never heard names or details—norhad I cared, prior to this. My father said all the warriors did was protect their own city, killing vampires when they got too close, and that the assassins hunted down the vampires in the woods. He said the rumors of vampires who lived in a far-off beautiful city were ludicrous lies by the ducai to scare us into thinking the vampires were stronger than they were so we would give them our most gifted children.
But my excitement to learn kept my bitterness at bay. I wanted to know more.
I flipped through quickly until I landed on it. It was right there. Twin kings?—
“Did you fold the pages of my book?” He looked personally offended.
“Is that... bad?” I grimaced.
